Random Monday Thoughts

So it's another dreary Monday morning. I don't really have enough for a cohesive post so here's some rambling thoughts for you. The video above is a song I rediscovered when putting together a playlist last week. It's by Spirit of the West and it never fails to make me smile. To quote the song, "It always leaves me laughing and feeling but of course..."

I'm really glad that the birthday week is over. With my difficult birthday and all the Ani birthday celebrations it was very tiring. The house is as clean as it's been for awhile and I'm really going to try to keep it that way, or at least the front of the house. I'm thinking about having a little New Year's Eve party as an incentive to keep it together.

I'm excited about the RRCS coming up in a few weeks. I just e-mailed them my inventory list. It had 219 items on it. I'm going to focus on getting another 20 wrist cuffs done in the next week but everything else is already done. I'm pretty happy with the amount I've knitted this year. That is not including the 50 or so items I sold at Strange Folk and a few things I'm not bringing to the show.

It looks like Michaels has all of their sketch books and kits on 40% off this week. Kai is getting into drawing and is needing a sketch pad. I'll be getting him a variety of pads and pencils for Christmas too. Any suggestions from the artists out there for what is good for a beginner would be appreciated. I obviously want to encourage all of his creative endeavors. He came over to help with the party which was much appreciated as I certainly wouldn't have blamed him for being as far away as possible with 6 tween girls in the house.

I'm so excited to see my sister's girls in a week. They will be here for the whole week of Thanksgiving. I haven't seen them since they moved to Dallas in July. It feels even longer than 5 months.

The Diva has her day!

So I survived the birthday party. Ani was so excited which made it all worth it. I think the girls all had a good time but I learned something about Montessori kids. They are the best behaved and focused kids I've ever seen when in a group. When they started their craft project they were absolutely silent which the Moms said was perfectly normal since that is how they are trained from preschool. When I started in trying to get them to use the sequins and beads I had laid out they all looked at me like I was crazy. Ani put some on just to appease me but they all had their own visions and nothing I said would get them to stray from it.

The giant cupcakes are from the daughter of a coworker of mine who is a baker and candy maker. Her business name is Crave Confections. She also made me candied apples that were decorated for the girls which not surprisingly were an even bigger hit with the adults. The girls loved the cupcakes and after eating them they actually became the wild little girls I was expecting and had fun running around the yard. They also liked the glittery scarves and had fun decorating each others hair with glitter and pink temporary highlights.

I just had to show off the shoes I got Ani for her birthday last weekend. They are the coolest shoes ever and I couldn't not get them for her.

Ani had the honor of actually breaking the guitar shaped pinata. I had to share this lucky shot since it captured the moment of the candy escaping into the yard. Chaos then insued with the girls all gathering up their share of the loot.

Scarflettes in the Wild

I have gotten over my etsy rage from yesterday. Sometimes I just get a wild hair and can't help myself. As I replied in my comments I really don't have anything against the gift guides per se. I've been in them twice that I know of and it was great exposure but I just didn't like the idea of people being redirected out of my shop after I've done the work to get them there.

I'm staying home today and tomorrow to get the house ready for Ani's birthday party on Saturday. I'm starting to question my sanity for offering to do this. I still have no idea how many girls are going to show up. I've only had 3 RSVP to me but there could be as many as 9 actually show up for all I know.

I also need to get my inventory lists in order for the next two craft shows coming up. They are both boutique style shows so I don't have to actually be there but I do have to let them know weeks in advance what I will be bringing. I have everything tagged, counted and folded nice and neatly in tubs by type. I need to do the spread sheet and I should be good to go. I think I will focus on getting some more wire wrist cuffs made between now and then since my supply of those is pretty depleted and they go pretty fast.

I thought I would leave you with a few shots of scarflettes growing in the wild. I took these in October on one of the few moments without rain right before all of the leaves turned brown and fell. They were both made with an amazingly soft mercerized cotton that I love from Chili. If you are interested in them let me know as I don't have them listed in my shop.

Another Epic Etsy Fail!

Update: The Gift Guide Debacle seems to have run its inevitable course and the big bright orange beacon out of our shops has now been removed. I'm going to leave this post up though as I think the thread that I copied here is still very relevant. There is just a real lack of understanding of the needs of the community by Etsy that is highly troubling to me and many others.

Really Etsy, what were you thinking? For those etsy sellers who haven't checked out their shop in over 24 hours I will give you a moment to go see if you can spot any changes.... How long did it take you to see the giant orange elephant in the room? Etsy in their infinite wisdom has once again decided to promote their one size fits all Gift Guides on not just the front page of the site, but on every single shop page. So why is this a bad thing? For the short answer I quote GreenMamba from her very clear thread on the topic here,: "While that button is there, at the top of every shop page, every moment that passes is another lost or diverted sale."

So we as sellers are spending our time and money to bring buyers into our shops to hopefully convert into a sale. In the meantime etsy is trying to actively divert our buyers attention and draw them into their handpicked Gift Guides to hopefully have them spend even more money meaning higher fees to them. Is it any surprise that all of the top GG's are all items that go for far more than the average item for sale on the site. I think not. What is really sad is Etsy tried this same stunt in 2007 and the after a month of nonstop complaints they finally took it down. Does no one in Brooklyn have any type of long term memory. Did they think that we would be fine with it this time. I just don't understand their mentality.

I really haven't spent much time or energy worrying about my etsy sales or shop this fall since I have my craft shows to be preparing for but this rubbed me the wrong way. One look at the Etsy Forums and it is obvious that I'm not alone. Clearly the admin are taking the day off as there has been all of one response saying that they are reading our opinions and they will be discussed.

The supplies seller Pickle Valentine who sells the cute orange beads above along with lots of other great finds, has written an eloquent and well thought out response to this latest etsy fail. I am reprinting it in it's entirety with her permission. You can see the entire thread here.

"I see the Etsy brand idea as getting in the way of performance. You don't get successful, become a household word, without stellar performance. You can pump up the Etsy name all you want, but you need to make sure that the idea of brand is not interfering with service.

Etsy is a venue, like eBay. Etsy is supposed to perform a service. Let me explain. Did anyone ever go to eBay to buy the eBay brand? Did anyone go because of their logo. No. Buyers and sellers came because the eBay venue supported the widest and most astonishing raft of items on the planet. It became a known brand because of the outstanding way it performed. It performed an incredible service for millions of people. Like Amazon, it became a household name. Then eBay blew it, which is why you have some of the sellers you do, including me. Amazon has not forgotten what it does, thank God.

I am not sure Etsy has figured out its raison d'être.

You can't tout your so called Etsy brand when you are not performing. And Etsy is not performing very well at all. As a seller, I do not feel well served much of the time. As a buyer, I have trouble finding things. If you read the forums, you can hear the unhappiness with the service.

"What can the Etsy venue do for me?" is the question of EVERY person, buyer or seller, who comes here. We don't care about the Etsy brand; it could be the "Woohoo" brand...we only want service. If we get incredible service each and every time we are on the site, if our items are findable, if we show up in searches, if we can find what we are looking for, if we are treated as if we are important, then Etsy will grow to be a brand, a household name, like eBay. But it won't get there without some mighty big changes.

At this point, buyers and sellers have been doing most of your advertising for you. That is terribly inefficient and it could turn on you. It may become negative advertising if Etsy continues to misunderstand that its brand-worthiness is only as valuable as the services it performs.

Etsy just announced they will not refund our fees for items that are returned. That makes Etsy unaffordable for some of your very high end sellers. It also makes you brand look greedy and grasping and cheap. No other venue does that.

The second issue is the so called Etsy look. Many of your sellers are extremely disaffected because Etsy only promotes a certain look and certain sellers. If you look at the front page, you will see the trend and the same sellers again and again and again. This is a HUGE point.

Neither eBay nor Amazon selected one demographic as being more important than others. Etsy rates a huge fail in that regard. Etsy needs to dump the idea that a certain look has anything to do with brand.

Not all shoppers and sellers are hipsters from Brooklyn, or those who aspire to be, but if you want to appeal only to those people, you are doing a GREAT job. Not everyone loves owls, cowls, felted fake beards, matte silver jewelry, clothing with unfinished seams, grey backgrounds, waifs wearing sheer clothing, etc. The emphasis on that so called Etsy look is a turn off to many people who love handmade, vintage, or are looking for supplies.

You also need to keep resellers of stuff we can find at Target today off Etsy and off the Etsy front pages. That means you need to make much wider and much wiser choices for your front pages and gift guides. You will need to advertise on sites and publications that appeal to different age groups.

The treasuries that we sellers put together are wonderful resources for you, but the same people's items and the same Etsy "look" are featured over and over again on the front page. Get some knowledgeable people to pick the front pages to start with. Take it out of Brooklyn altogether. Take it away from admin. Otherwise you are going to get what you always got with an appeal to a limited demographic.

I'd love to see more traditional crafts for instance. I'd like to see an emphasis on different age groups. I'd like to front pages full of vintage jewelry and gorgeous supplies.

You may have to cough up some money to use your sellers items in advertising. God knows I would rather look at some beautiful objects as an enticement to go see what Etsy is about than the Etsy logo.

You need to advertise loudly and boldly that you have a venue for ALL sorts of handmade items. Equally important, you need to advertise loudly and boldly that you also serve buyers and sellers of vintage items and supplies here.

Vintage and supplies do not take anything away from handmade. A lot of people are not even looking for handmade when they come in here, but may buy something handmade later if they can find what they came for in the first place. Make it easier for them by changing the search NOT to default to handmade. You need to change the front page banner too. Etsy makes money from handmade, supplies, and vintage, so why not make it easier for everyone?

What category is giving you your bulk of revenue?
Look at the bottom line. Who makes you the most money? Is it supplies? If so, you could be doing lots better. You can advertise in places like Bead and Button, Knitters, Threads, where you can reach crafters.

As far as handmade, you can advertised gorgeous hand made objects in Ornament, for instance. You can ask artists and vintage sellers magazines or sites they would suggest. And then don't rip off your sellers. Pay them for the use of their items. Get their final approval on photos, too.

Now, as a seller, I don't want that gift guides button in my shop and I am hoping that you will get Etsy to undo another boneheaded stupid move and perform the service of getting that button out of my shop. It is a distraction and it is placed right in the way of the path of the mouse. Very easy to click on. In fact, even though I have been using computers since 1983, I clicked on it by accident whilst looking at someones shop. That is a total lack of service on Etsy's part."

Happy Birthday To Me

So today is my birthday. I woke up to the phone ringing and utility workers pounding on the door. I still am not sure what it was that they were checking for but it didn't seem to be an emergency that all the commotion implied. I'm not feeling as emotional as I thought I would. I guess the train wreck of emotions from the past week have settled down.

I scanned some old pictures last night. I was probably 3 in the top picture. I don't know why I like it so much. I like the off centered nature and the expression on my face is quite typical. I have a number of pictures of my toddler self in the dress from the second shot. For some reason I was most drawn to the one where you can't see my face. The prototype 1974 calender on the wood paneled wall adds a nice element to the shot I think. My panda bear birthday cake from my 1st birthday warranted 2 pictures from 2 different angles but I couldn't find any pictures of me actually eating it. I don't blame Mom, it is a very cool cake.

I was also humming the song Die Alone from Ingrid Michaelson the whole way to work. The lines below have always resonated with me but particularly so today.

I woke up this morning with a funny taste in my head.
Spackled some butter over my whole grain bread.
Something tastes different, maybe it's my tongue.
Something tastes different, suddenly I'm not so young.
From Die Alone by Ingrid Michaelson

Fall on the Farm

After a full day on Saturday including a tea party/fashion show and some birthday shopping with Ani and Grandma we made it home right before dusk. Ani and I headed out with my camera to try to get some pictures of Fall on the farm. Unfortunately the lighting didn't corporate and my flash photography skills are not too strong so I gave up after it got too dark. But I got some okay ones that I thought I'd share. The top one is an impromptu hay ride that Ani got minus all the hay as Dad was moving the trailer. The next one is the best I captured of the foliage. Mom says that they really didn't get very many great color displays this year. In mid October there were a few weeks of vibrant colors which happened to coincide with the stretch of everyday rain so there wasn't much time to enjoy it.

This one is just a shot of the sky that I liked through the trees. It wasn't the best sunset to photograph either but you work with what you are given.














Ani was enjoying setting up my shots and finding the right angles. She kept calling out look at this old abandoned tire, or this old abandoned log, or the old abandoned fence. When she pointed out this weed and called it an old abandoned flower I thought she must be joking but it is the best example of an old abandoned flower I've ever seen.

Mike says that he is over the macro shots but I'm not yet. I just love catching the details and having the crisp image against a fuzzy backdrop seems arty to me. I know I'm definitely a beginning photographer but that's okay. I really didn't start to take pictures until the past year so I'm just a baby in the hobby. I think that macro is a cool way to develop my skills. It forces me to pay attention to all of the details, find the right backdrop, and really pay attention to the composition. As my skills improve I'm sure I'll be able to apply those things to the big picture too but for now I'm happy with capturing the little images.

Old Fashioned Hootenanny

So we made it back from a full weekend of fun at the farm. Friday night was my Dad's annual hunter's party in the hunter's cabin on the farm. He hires the same old blue grass band that plays like they've been playing together for 40 years, probably because some of them have been. He builds the world's biggest bon fire each year. This year's was supposedly the most beautiful yet. He had two hollow logs standing straight up with flames shooting out from each end in a perfect display. It had fallen just 3 minutes before we made it there. If only we hadn't gotten stuck in that second round of traffic I would have the pictures to memorialize it, instead I only have it in it's sad fallen state.


But there was plenty of chili left and cold beer so who could complain too much. They held the hay ride up for Ani and she enjoyed it although I don't think she was too crazy about dancing in front of everyone with Dad. But when they played Rocky Top, his favorite song, for him he drug her around the dance floor like only Dad can.

I was the only one of my siblings home for the party this year, probably because I'm the only one left in Missouri. I was talking to one of my cousins about the total irony of that fact. I was the one that was bound and determined to get as far away from the farm as possible. And here I am, the only one within driving distance for a weekend visit home. There really is no way of predicting how our lives will turn out that is for certain.